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On Halloween night, there are bound to be plenty of Nicki-Minaj-imposters, Snooki-look-alikes, and bright blue Smurfs out on the streets. But there are some Halloween costumes you should definitely avoid: Those that portray the mentally ill.

“Most people say ‘Well, I’m not intending to offend anyone,’” says Bob Carolla, director of media relations for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). “But it’s not what’s intended that’s the problem; it’s the impact it can have.”

What’s Wrong With “Crazy” Costumes?

The U.S. Office of the Surgeon General (OSG) has pointed out that stigma is perhaps the greatest barrier to people who need help for their mental illnesses. According to the OSG, stereotypes (such as that people with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or major depression are “crazy,” “wacko,” and dangerous) can seriously impact a person’s chance for recovery and discourage him from seeking help.

In fact, stigma surrounding mental disorders is so strong that nearly two-thirds of people affected by them live in silence and go without treatment, according to NAMI.

And that psycho-killer getup or the asylum-themed haunted house only makes things worse. “I love Halloween,” says Carolla. “What I don’t like is taking my daughter out trick-or-treating, and suddenly we run into something mocking mental illness. It’s offensive to anyone who’s lived with a mental health condition — and it’s offensive to anyone who has a family member with a mental health condition.”

If you think mental health advocates are getting too bent out of shape about this issue, Carolla suggests thinking of it this way: You’d never don a costume that pokes fun at someone who’s been hospitalized for cancer. Like cancer, mental illness is a real disease; unlike cancer patients, people with mental health issues are too often stereotyped instead of celebrated.

The No. 1 Halloween No-No

Put this Halloween costume theme at the top your “don’t” list: Straightjackets.

“Straightjackets are a hot button topic in the mental health community,” says Carolla. That’s because this form of restraint represents mistreatment, violence, and extremely traumatic experiences for people with mental illness.

In fact, a college dance team from Chicago recently drew criticism after performing a routine in straightjackets. The competitive dancers from Robert Morris University also donned dark eye makeup and frizzy hair to complete the “crazy” look. After a woman whose 16-year-old son has schizoaffective disorder caught wind of the gig, she complained to the university and they were quick to issue an apology.

“It’s accepted as entertainment,” she told the Chicago Tribune. “But if you’ve seen your kid restrained and medicated because he’s having a complete psychotic break, it wouldn’t be entertaining.”

What’s Being Done to Stop This Scary Stigma?

Mental health advocates and groups like NAMI are doing all they can to put an end to stigma — when they hear about a haunted house that’s decorated as an insane asylum or a store that sells stigmatizing costumes, they ask them to reconsider.

This Halloween, for example, NAMI is taking a stand against St. Albans hospital in Radford, Va. The old psychiatric hospital is now being used for ghost tours, promoting the haunted house by handing out T-shirts that read “crazy” and portraying images of ghoulish mental patients — even though many one-time patients still live in the community. To show their opposition, the group is planning to hold a respectful demonstration in St. Albans.

Carolla says most success against such stigmatizing mental illness stereotypes happens on a local level. The problem tends to lie with major corporations and big retailers that won’t budge because they’re more interested in making a profit.

Should You Forgo the ‘Charlie Sheen’ Costume?

In recent years, trick-or-treaters and party-goers have tended to shy away from traditional witches, ghosts, and black cats; instead, they’re opting for Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Justin Bieber.

What's projected to be the most popular costume for 2011? Many believe it will be a certain tiger-blood drinking celebrity: Charlie Sheen. The actor’s bizarre rants from earlier this year (when he coined that infamous phrase “tiger blood”) left many people speculating that he was experiencing a period of bipolar mania — so does dressing like Sheen’s doppelganger reinforce a negative stereotype about mental illness?

“Celebrity satire is different,” says Carolla. “He did put himself out there. As long as you’re not dressing as Charlie Sheen in a straightjacket, you should be okay.”

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